Study of performance characteristics of a small Stirling refrigerator

✍ Scribed by Toshio Otaka; Masahiro Ota; Kazuhiko Murakami; Moriyoshi Sakamoto

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 213 KB
• Volume: 31
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1099-2871
• DOI: 10.1002/htj.10033

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A prototype Stirling cycle refrigerator employing helium as a working fluid was investigated to determine whether a freon‐free machine was a viable alternative for the current household refrigerator. A displacer‐type or β‐type Stirling cycle machine of 100‐W capacity was designed and tested using varying design parameters such as dead volume ratio, working fluids, the ratio of the compression volume to the expansion volume, and the phase difference between a power piston and displacer. The detrimental effect of the dead space on the refrigeration capacity was confirmed. The refrigeration produced by nitrogen in an expansion space was 28% less than that produced by helium. The optimum volume ratio and the phase difference for maximum refrigeration was determined under the design operation conditions. Moreover, the refrigeration correlation formula as a function of these parameters was obtained. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(5): 344–361, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/htj.10033